Populus: Simulations of Population Biology

By D. N. Alstad

University of Minnesota

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Licensed according to this deed.

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  1. Monika Norea Herbst

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    I am writing this review as a student. This populus program was interesting because it had a large amount of information and examples of different types of population growth and change. It is a resource that has graph representations of all types of population growth and change seen in introductory biology  courses. I have not taken an ecology course, but from the ecology unit in a previous biology course, I found this useful. For example under the tab for Mendelian Genetics it has graph for Genetic Drift, Inbreeding, Population Structure, and Drift and Selection. Understanding how to read and interpret graphs is a huge part of Biology and this tool could help solidify that understanding for other students.

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  2. Atteh Akoto

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    This is a program that must be downloaded and uses Java to run.

    The program uses graphs and modelling that can  be user controlled to explore mendelian genetics, population dynamics, natural selection, and more. Navigating is alright, but the screen can get a bit busy. The program doesn't do very well with actually helping you to use it either, as the help button opens a large pdf file that pretty much only explains the math and biology, but not how to actually use the software.

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